Natural hair in Nigeria... meet Nono!

I always find it fascinating hearing about other people's natural hair experiences, especially here in Nigeria, so I asked some of my customers to share theirs: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. I'm also always reading articles about how natural hair is not accepted in Nigeria. Although this is true for the most part, I thought we should show the world that although we’re in the minority, we have our own little (but rapidly growing) community here!

First up (and first to send her answers in) is Nono.

Photo courtesy of subject

It seems like just yesterday when I got an S.O.S. email from Nono saying she had just done the big chop and needed advice, but now she points out it was over a year and a half ago. We emailed back and forth for days as she asked questions and I tried to give her as much advice as I could. As tends to happen with most of my customers, we quickly built a rapport, so it warms my cockles to see that she’s really in her stride now. Here’s what she has to say about her experience so far:

Why I went natural

I have been natural for about a year and 7 months now. I went natural cos I was bored. I'm someone that gets bored easily and I'd pretty much done all there was to do with my relaxed hair so I thought why not go natural.

Well....being natural in Nigeria is no easy feat. I must tell you that. I'm always asked "why" by hair dressers. One even recommended a relaxer a while ago cos for some reason she felt I hadn't heard of 'em.

Photo courtesy of subject

On how other people receive it 

Most of the people I meet outside are always curious to know how I maintain my hair and the hair products I use. They commend me but they say they can't try it cos of how tough their hair is. I always try to explain that it's possible to wear your natural hair and still have it soft. My biggest issue is with finding products(thank goodness for the Apothecary) and finding salons that can deal with natural hair. More often than not, I make my hair myself just to spare myself the horror of having a hairdresser take a blow dryer to my scalp.

My family loves my hair! I got my mum to go natural so yay!! I've got brothers so I guess we can say everyone in my immediate family is natural!

I currently work in Oil and Gas, and I've been wearing a weave since I started so no one has gotten to see my hair yet but I've been told that as long as it's presentable and not crazy, it's fine. I worked in media about a year ago and they were totally fine with whatever I chose to do to my hair(obviously lol!). The business world is ok with my hair as long as it's not too crazy. I've worn bantu knots, pineapple updos, big buns, mini-twists that look like dreadlocs and huge afros to my MBA classes and no one seemed to mind. People were more interested in how I got my hair to look the way it did.

My views on natural hair before I joined the club

Before I went natural I thought one must really be crazy to want to keep their hair natural. As a kid I was natural till about I was 10 and I remember the torture I went through whenever I had to have my hair done. I must hold some sort of record for breaking combs!

Photo courtesy of subject

My big chop and my journey so far

I was very excited about my big chop. I hadn't had my hair short in years and I wanted to see what I'd look like. I transitioned for 4 months before my BC. 

My natural hair journey so far has been very interesting. It's so much fun trying out new styles and new regimens. I'm always on youtube watching vids of other natural girls and trying what they recommend. Some work and some don't but I guess that's the whole point. Finding out what works for me.

My daily hair regimen at the moment would be a little glycerin, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, leave-in conditioner and water all mixed up in a spray bottle and of course my shea butter. Moisture is so important for my hair especially in Nigeria where the weather gives my hair a lot of frizz. I've been trying out the curly girl method and co-washing my hair often. I can't really see what the difference is but I guess it's a way to clean my hair without stripping out all the good stuff I've got in there.

On being natural in Nigeria

Being natural in Nigeria is really a challenge primarily cos of the weather like I said, but with my spray bottle always handy, I'm able to fight that. I'd love to encourage others to try going natural. I must say the downside is that it is really time consuming and if you're the impatient type you could easily get frustrated but I believe that's a minor flaw. It's really fun if you are like me and love looking different all the time.

I have fully accepted my natural hair. At this stage I think I have a pretty good idea of her strengths and weaknesses. With time I've come to understand what works and what doesn't and I'm fine with that. No I don't think I'll ever relax my hair again. I mean if I'm tired, all I have to do is wear a weave for a while and the weave can even second as relaxed hair for a bit. If I were to relax my hair, I'll never get it back unless I cut again which I'm not prepared to do and besides I want to loc my hair eventually so relaxing is totally out of the picture.

Photo courtesy of subject

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about your experiences, Nono, and congratulations to your mum on her big chop!

Kinky Hair 101: Protective and low-manipulation styling

Source

Most people reading this will already familiar with the concept of protective styling, what it entails and how you can benefit from it, but I feel it is my Corporate Social Responsibility to carry on with all the basics for any newbies who might happen to stumble across this blog. Hi there! *waves*


Anyway, I mentioned in one of my last few posts that I have benefited from not doing much with my hair recently. Time constraints have meant that I have not really had a chance to fuss with it much. I wash every 7-10 days as usual (sometimes stretching to 14 days). I then put them in fat twists, which I wear for a couple of days pinned up.

If I'm going anywhere where I need to look slightly decent, I distract with a nice scarf or other accessory.

When the weekend rolls around, I either undo and braid for a braidout, as illustrated in previous post, or undo and re-twist with product for a twistout, allow it to set at least overnight and then wear the twist/braidout for a couple of days until humidity has completely taken its toll. Then I put it in some sort of updo, like a bun or flat twists, for a couple of days until the next wash day rolls around.


Why have I benefited from this?

Essentially, what I have been doing is protective or low-manipulation styling. Most naturals with tighter, kinkier textures tend to benefit from leaving their hair alone. And the ones who have managed any significant amount of length retention tend to be in protective styles about 99% of the time. (Yes, I just employed a knack I have for pulling statistics out of thin air, but for example, check out Cipriana from Urban Bush Babes, or Mwedzi on Youtube)

This is because kinky hair is so fragile, that every time it is handled is an opportunity to damage it. Our hair therefore tends to thrive if put away, as you are preventing it rubbing on clothing or other articles. It is particularly helpful if your ends are tucked away as this helps minimize splits and knots, which would eventually need to be chopped out of your hair. 

Forms of low-manipulation or protective styling

As I mentioned, updos and buns are protective styles as they keep your ends tucked away and free from damage. Strictly speaking, twists on long hair are not strictly "protective" if worn down and allowed to rub on your clothing, however you do benefit from the fact that once the twists are in, you will not have to keep re-doing your hair and risk over-manipulation. 

Twistouts and braidouts even when worn loose are, in my opinion semi-protective styles, because from stretching your hair by twisting and braiding, you are minimizing tangles and also locking in moisture (which travels much more easily down a stretched strand of hair than a tightly coiled one), reducing possible breakage. (Although watch out for shrinkage in this humidity!)

For ideas on protective styling, look back at this post on youtube links. And take some time out to look through other videos for tutorials.

Protective styling may not suit everyone

As with everything, not all rules apply 100%. Some people, particularly those with looser curls, may not find protective styling necessary, and can wash and go to their hearts content. 

Others may have tightly curled hair, but for them retaining length is not a priority, and this is fine. 

I was much more strict about protective styling when I first embarked on this healthy hair journey, but have recently been far more relaxed about my hair in general. Sometime last year, I reached the conclusion that there is no point having all this hair if I can't show it off once in a while. So if I have time to play with my hair, I do tend to wear it out more often (my recent protective styling frenzy has, as I mentioned, mainly been for convenience). 

However I was very aware that this would be to the detriment of my length retention, and I definitely weathered a lot more damage than usual last year and had to trim more often, but I was o.k. with that. I draw the line at frequent wash and go's, however. 

So whether you protective style or not is your choice: it is just important to be aware of the trade-off, for most people, between wearing your hair out all the time and growing your hair long.

A couple of important things to think about when protective styling
1/ Again, I repeat: no two things work exactly the same for 2 people. So watch Youtube tutorials to get ideas, but at the end of the day, you have to figure out a routine that best suits YOU. For e.g. some people leave their twists in for up to 6 weeks. I have never dared to attempt going more than 3! 

Another example: when I began attempting protective styles, I would watch people with a looser texture on Youtube bun their hair wet, and I would try and mimic it. This didn't work well at all for my texture, and I have since found that for me, it is best to bun my hair when it is in twists, or when it is already stretched, e.g. an old twistout.

2/ As I mentioned in my braids post, there is no point in doing a protective style if any process of that style causes damage to your hair. For e.g. there is no point in blowdrying if you’re breaking it along the way, not moisturizing while it is in the style, or leaving the style in so long that your hair will knot, tangle and break as you’re taking it out.

Incidentally, Miss Fizz from Leave In The Kinks (protective styler extraordinaire) just did this post with notes on protective styling. Make sure to check it out.


Until next time!

London Life, Lagos Living...The Documentary

Kilon sparkles!

Ok, this isn’t really hair related, but many of you who attended the Kinky Apothecary Birthday Bash in December will remember that 2 of the giveaways were signed copies of my good friend Bobo Omotayo’s book: “London Life, Lagos Living”.

A collection of his witty observations of life in Nigeria, the book began as a series of hilarious emails to a small group of friends, which we soon began to look forward to every Friday. Following its success, he has now created a short documentary based on the book.

To quote the author, “This 6-minute documentary, directed by LA-based filmmaker, Francesca Tilley-Gyado, is not so much a story of 'the journey so far' but more a snapshot into what a typical week is like for the author and contributors to the book. This documentary is testament that it is possible for a hopeless dreamer to dream in ‘flights of fancy’ yet have his 'flights' for his singular critic.”

Hope you enjoy … and look out for the clip featuring the fly natural. Yes, I did have to make it about hair somehow!

Natural Hair Calendars: July

Happy new month, peeps! I really can't believe we are already in the second half of the year.

Well it's that time again. Download your calendar printable here.

And great news for all the naturals in Nigeria who can't wait to start tracking their natural hair journey: the Natural Hair Love Affair Calendars arrive on our shores next month! And don't worry, they are undated, and start whenever you decide to begin tracking your hair progress.

In case anyone needs a reminder of what the calendars are all about, read up here.

Have a great one!

Since March, I have mostly...(and how I do my braidouts)

Well, I have to admit that despite my vows to the contrary, I've continued to be bloody boring with my hair.

I tend to just wear it in my fat twists pinned up for days at a time, taking it down to wear in a twistout or braidout for the weekend.

Must try harder.

In the past month or so though, with the onset of the rainy season, the humidity has been so ridiculous that I tend not to have any definition for more than an hour after stepping out of the house. I don't mind TOO much because it just means I end up with big fluffy hair. The next day I just wear my hair in a bun, or my recent staple of 2 flat twists pinned up at the back. Not very glamorous or exciting, and I think I'm going to have to come up with more creative ways of battling this humidity, but in my next post I'll explain in my current routine of low manipulation and keeping my ends tucked away has actually benefited my hair.

I've been asked a number of times how I do my braidouts, and came up with this pictorial, even though humidity did its best literally the second the last braid came out. Ah well, for what it's worth, here we go:

I start off with the twists I dry my hair in, as described in my updated regimen post

I undo each twist, spritz with my leave-in/water/oil mix to dampen (I normally try and do this stage on damp hair anyway, but sometimes I forget and my hair is fully dry), apply a bit of leave-in and seal the ends with my shea butter, castor, jojoba and grapeseed oil mix, or Whipped Shea Batter, and then apply a styler (at the moment it is the pink Ecostyler gel to try and battle this humidity) before converting each twist to a braid

When I get to the end of each braid, I'm normally left with one section which is far shorter than the other 2, and so I combine it with another section and two-strand twist the rest of the way (I'd jumped in the car to head to work and realised I hadn't taken any pictures to show the size of the braids)

I normally do the braids in the evening and leave them to dry overnight, but if I've done them in the morning, I try and make them look, if not presentable then at least inconspicuous by putting them in a bun. I keep the braids in for anywhere between 8 hours to a day. The longer the better, obviously

I lightly coat my fingers with an oil (usually jojoba) and then undo each braid, separating the clumped sections as I go along, instead of waiting until I have undone them all and going back

This demonstrates how I have already fluffed all the braids out by the time I get to the last one

Rainy season. Humidity strikes literally as soon as the braids are out

Braidout on a normal day

2nd day of a braidout after stretching it a little in "pineapples" overnight

Humidity: 1 - Braidout: 0

Before the rainy season, when we were still dealing with relatively normal levels of humidity, I found the following tips helped me keep definition for 2, maybe 3 days without having to retwist or braid:

1/ Using a leave-in that doesn't contain glycerine near the top of the list of ingredients (I find I have no problem if it is near the bottom of the ingredients list). This is because glycerine sucks the moisture in from the air causing the hair to swell and frizz. So although this means nice moisturised hair, its goodbye definition. For some reason, I don't seem to have this problem with other humectants.
2/ Using a product with hold. I normally go with the pink Ecostyler, and recently revisited Jane Carter Solution's "Wrap & Roll" which is so effective in humidity that we will soon be stocking it, along with other products from the brand, at The Apothecary, so watch this space.
3/ Night-time routine: I am definitely not one of those people who has time to rebraid my hair at night to keep it stretched. First of all I'm lazy, and secondly my hair prefers to be left unmanipulated as much as possible. So for the first 2 or 3 days, I put my hair in 2 high ponytails or "pineapples", taking care not to squash the definition of the braidout. I then wrap a satin scarf either just around my edges and then sleep on a satin pillowcase, or in an upward motion around the pineapples (I'll do a post on my night-time routine to demonstrate in pictures). It does not stay as defined as the days go on, but again it just means bigger fluffier hair, which I like.
4/ NOT using a liquid moisturiser. I've mentioned in earlier posts that I like to moisturise between washes using a mix of leave-in conditioner, water and oils in my spray bottle. However this, along with glycerine, is best saved for when I'm wearing my hair in twists or braids, or the rare ocassion I do a wash n go (usually done by raking conditioner, gel or another styler through my hair without twisting or stretching in any way). On a dry set it just causes hair to revert and lose definition, so I moisturise instead with a creamy leave-in or moisturiser.

Speaking of wash n go's, I just did one recently because I needed to, well, wash and go. My hair desperately needed a wash, and I had plans that evening so no time for any style to set. But I actually managed to get about 5 days before I had to re-style. This picture was taken on about day 3 or 4.

Shrinkage: fascinating or annoying? Discuss.

Wash n go's are incredibly rare for me, because they tend to cause untold tangles and knotting, leading to wash days that make me actually curse my hair. For me they are really not worth the time saved on styling, and it will be a long time before you see me in one again!

Until the next post, have a good one, peeps.